The modern combat soldier is equipped with a variety of body and helmet mounted gear, such as identification lights, communication devices and the like, which require power. Typically, power for such devices is provided by a battery which is carried in the soldier's back pack or on an epaulet or attached to the rear of the soldier's helmet.
One drawback of such prior art back pack power packs is that the soldier regularly becomes separated from his back pack and therefore power to the helmet or soldier mounted devices is lost. On the other hand, one drawback of the helmet mounted power packs is that they are relatively cumbersome and add additional stress to the soldiers neck.
What is needed, therefore, and an object of the present application, is a power system which provides power to solider or helmet mounted devices for those periods of time when the back pack becomes separated from the soldier, but does not add strain to the soldier's neck when worn.
Additionally, many of the devices currently used in the field require a variety of batteries in order to be operated. Typically these batteries are swapped periodically in order to ensure that a battery does not expire in the field. As a result, a solider or unit is typically left with a large number of partially spent batteries. What is need therefore, and also an object of the present application, is a universal battery pack that can harvest and reuse the remaining energy from such partly spent batteries.